Happy Birthday, Nina's House!

One year ago today, Families Together – the Museum's renowned program for court-separated families – celebrated the opening of Nina’s House, a healing, homelike environment where families can rebuild relationships while practicing everyday skills.

While families in need of special guidance continue to play and learn together at the Museum, Nina's House enables Families Together to expand its reach to serve more families, assess their strengths and challenges, and better help them with their specific needs – including parenting skill development for families with very young children and those with mental health and cognitive issues.

In addition to opening Nina’s House, Families Together achieved these 2012 milestones:

• Celebrated its 20th anniversary!
• Served a record 609 children and parents in 233 families 
• Welcomed 466 family visits to Nina’s House (a combination of visits guided by Families Together clinicians and visits facilitated by social workers from RI’s Department of Children, Youth and Families)
• Was included in the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth’s Nationwide Listening Tour examining innovative child welfare practices
• Completed work on a three-year federal grant to establish permanent homes for foster children by drawing on extended family support networks, as part of a coalition of RI social service agencies 

What an amazing year – congratulations to program director Heidi Brinig and the incredibly hard working Families Together team!